Mnemonomics

While developing a presentation for a group of librarians about social bookmarking as public memory, this neologism “mnemonomics” occurred to me as a way to organize my presentation. What I have been trying to do with bloglines and del.icio.us is to “manage my mnemonic prosthetics”: if we think of technology as a prosthesis or extension of our memories, then scanning headlines from the WALL STREET JOURNAL, NEW YORK TIMES, NPR, etc. and adding ones I want to keep into my delicious account become a way of laying down my cyborg memories.

Mnemonomics: a fusion of mneme (“memory”) and nomos (“management”). A bit tricky on the tongue, however. Try saying mnemonomician, for example!